Annals Of Obliviousness

You remember that? For it before you were against it? I mean you can’t just make stuff up. You can’t just recreate yourself. You can’t just reinvent yourself. The American people aren’t stupid. ~Barack Obama

Look, let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center. The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me. ~Barack Obama

As the man said, you can’t just reinvent yourself. However, it may not be true that the people won’t fall for it. At the Democratic convention, they had Kerry give an effective attack on McCain’s own many flips and inconsistencies over the years, deploying the “for it before you were against it” line against McCain, so it is clear that Obama and Biden are counting on a public backlash against McCain and Palin’s opportunism. Still, it is difficult to take advantage of opponents who are unscrupulous trimmers when you are no different, and it is hard to indict your opponents as advocates of “more of the same” when you represent accommodation and support for so much of the status quo.